My husband was reading Mango's ode yesterday to the emperors of ice cream and volunteered a story about the sweet stuff served to new arrivals at Ellis Island: quite a few of them couldn't identify it, figured it was butter, and spread it on their toast. What's Cooking America confirms this little tale, and also provides the following creamy facts:

In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt publicly confessed that he liked to have ice cream at least once a day.

During World War I (1914-1918), ice cream played a role as a propaganda tool and morale builder. A German officer, when asked about America's involvement in the war, said that "We do not fear that nation of ice cream eaters."

The biggest ice cream sundae ever made was 12 feet high and made with 4,667 gallons of ice cream and 7,000 pounds of toppings in Anaheim, California during 1985.

During World War II, the Eighth Air Force unit chose the Popsicle as a symbol of American life.